the lieutenant said the taliban is getting, quote, pretty gutsy. where does this confidence come from, and does it it stem in part from the fact they know the americans are leaving? >> reporter: i think that's true to a certain extent. the gutsiness is perhaps a suggestion that some fighters there are foreign. u.s. officials identifying what they believe were safe havens there before they launched a large operation into that particular area. the focus was on pakistan's safe havens there. that where many in washington believe al qaeda was hiding. big concerns they naif found a breathing space in afghanistan. >> if they have a breathing space in afghanistan, we are nearing a decade mark in this conflict. can you push al qaeda out of afghanistan permanently, and the subquestion in that scenario has been when will the afghans be ready to do this themselves? when will they take the lead in the army and police? where are we there? >> reporter: very difficult to answer that. the immediate reaction is the afghans are nowhere near ready. the bulk of the arm